Flea beetle infestation

[Jane23]

I can't live without brassica family vegetables, so I use nets. So far, the result is satisfying. I didn't have luck with the banker plants yet, but I will try again with wheat/oat to attract aphids next year.

I grow larger (like cabbage, broccoli, cauliflowers, kale, radish, Brussels sprouts, etc.) and smaller (pak choi, cherry radish, etc.) brassicas in different beds. The nets are always there after seedlings are transplanted, and I only remove the nets when I harvest them (not the entire heart, I harvest their outer leaves biweekly) or need to remove lower leaves in the very early morning during the growing season. Flea beetles are comparatively not that active in the early morning.

In my garden, the nets can effectively keep most of the pests away, from Aphids, and flea beetles, to birds.

I am thinking of trying something like that next year, but I need to build frames with sturdy metal meshing. We get a bit of wind where I live, so those things they sell through the gardening sources would die almost instantly.

It is something I might be able to start on this winter to build so that I can move them around easily but also have them be sturdy.

 

[flowerbug]

brassicas seem to attract their own types of aphids compared to the usual kinds we have around here (that i rarely see since we have so many lady bugs that are constantly going around on the plants looking for them to eat).

i noticed my lone turnip plant was swarmed with aphids and so i pulled it intending to get out there and bury it a few minutes later. this was about a month ago and i've not gotten back to that yet. oops.

i'm curious as to why the lady bugs we do have didn't get these ones.

flea beetles we have in some different gardens, they seem to like the lower spots near sandy banks but other nearby gardens don't have them nearly as much. since i don't till the whole garden i'm not sure if that is ever any kind of factor.

we've had enough hard frosts that i'm not sure i'll see any more flea beetles this season at all. i guess i'll find out later this week when i get back to putting up gardens for the winter.

in my normal bean gardens they may put some holes in the plants but they don't decimate them so i don't spray anything for them to control. i haven't even looked into what i could do further since they're not so bad.

 

[Jane23]

brassicas seem to attract their own types of aphids compared to the usual kinds we have around here (that i rarely see since we have so many lady bugs that are constantly going around on the plants looking for them to eat).

i noticed my lone turnip plant was swarmed with aphids and so i pulled it intending to get out there and bury it a few minutes later. this was about a month ago and i've not gotten back to that yet. oops.

i'm curious as to why the lady bugs we do have didn't get these ones.

flea beetles we have in some different gardens, they seem to like the lower spots near sandy banks but other nearby gardens don't have them nearly as much. since i don't till the whole garden i'm not sure if that is ever any kind of factor.

we've had enough hard frosts that i'm not sure i'll see any more flea beetles this season at all. i guess i'll find out later this week when i get back to putting up gardens for the winter.

in my normal bean gardens they may put some holes in the plants but they don't decimate them so i don't spray anything for them to control. i haven't even looked into what i could do further since they're not so bad.

I have noticed a lot of lady bugs on almost everything I plant. I wonder what it means.

 

[flowerbug]

I have noticed a lot of lady bugs on almost everything I plant. I wonder what it means.

i consider it a good sign that they are around because they do seem to take care of a lot of pests. i do wonder though about that one plant and why the lady bugs weren't getting those green/gray aphids.

 

[ducks4you]

Flea beetles present a severe problem for oilseed rape farming here in the UK. There are ongoing trials with mixtures of fenugreek, mustard, and buckwheat, which act as a repellent/N-fixer, trap crop, and food source for predatory species respectively.

I have to say I've noticed a great reduction in aphids and flea beetles since I've planted alyssum all over the place and let the old celery plants flower freely. This summer, the latter were teeming with syrphids, lacewings, ladybirds, spiders, and parasitoid wasps. Normally the salad radishes and pak choi would have been riddled with holes but they were few and far between.

YOU have successfully grown celery?!?!?

 

[Jane23]

i consider it a good sign that they are around because they do seem to take care of a lot of pests. i do wonder though about that one plant and why the lady bugs weren't getting those green/gray aphids.

I think I had some aphids on my potato plants last year. I seem to recall random black/gray bugs and didn’t know what they were.

 

[Decoy1]

I’m rather puzzled by this thread as the picture initially posted shows aphids rather than flea beetles. Flea beetles are small black insects which make holes in brassica leaves but leap away when disturbed. They’re not too bad a nuisance on older plants but can be ruinous on young seedlings.

I find the best treatment for aphids is to blast them off with a jet of water from a hose. Keep doing this for a few days and the population will diminish greatly.

Unlike Phaedra I find aphids can collect under nets. Flea beetles can be kept out by using fine mesh.

 

[flowerbug]

YOU have successfully grown celery?!?!?

if you have a hard time growing it try growing fennel instead (if you like it).

 

[Branching Out]

YOU have successfully grown celery?!?!?

Just noticed this post on celery, and wanted to mention that last winter I saved the bottom 2" of a couple of store-bought celery, and placed them in a dish on my counter until they produced roots. Then I planted them out in a sunny yet boggy spot in my garden, as they like swampy soil. I did not eat any of the stalks, but they grew lots of leaves and set seed in late summer. I collected the seed for cooking (our friend swears by mixing celery seed and peanut butter in with ground beef, for homemade burger patties) and this year there are lots of celery leaves growing in that same spot. They seem quite winter hardy.

 

[Jane23]

They're back. You can see one of the little evil black specks in the photo below. I think the bed is infected. I wonder if I can use it ever again.